After working our way back up the coast from Tarragona, Barcelona was all about reconnecting with Wayne and Judith for a few days of fun and laughter. Oh and ham and sherry. And flaming absinthe. There’s so many good places to eat and drink in Barcelona, you really can’t go too far wrong. (Except for the absinthe maybe).
As we’ve all done some of the sightseeing highlights of Barcelona before, we decided to venture out of town – on public transport no less. We took the train about an hour out of the city to Lavern-Subirats, not even a village really, just a train platform and a bike hire shop. Darren and Wayne went for mountain bikes, while Judith and I opted for the laid-back e-bike option. Or so we thought. It turned out to be the jerkiest, most temperamental e-bike I’ve ever ridden.
I’d assumed the ride was going to be on meandering country lanes, but oh no, it was straight on to steep, windy gravel tracks with mud and ruts. Proper full on mountain biking. Darren and Wayne seemed to think it was nothing like full on mountain biking but what do they know. There were a few shrieks and “what the holy %$#$” from the ladies as we negotiated the terrain.
Lovely countryside though, as our route took us past endless rows of vineyards and through quaint, picturesque villages.
And what better than to end up at a winery! The sun was out, we had wine and snacks, and we breathed a sigh of relief that we’d made it in one piece.
The next day, we rented town bikes in Barcelona using an app called Donkey. After a few false starts with bikes being zip tied together and flat tyres, we got on our way. My bike was called ‘Falafel’ – cool little name but was anything but a cool little bike. Still, we got to see a bit more of the city.
And just like that, it was time to ring in the new year. Party hats and garlands galore! Somehow Darren and I just made it to midnight as we were flying the next day. Bring on 2025!
So our plans had changed when it turned out mum and dad unfortunately couldn’t make it out to Benidorm. Instead of flying home to California on New Year’s Day, we boarded a Vuelig flight to Manchester instead. We hired a teeny tiny Citroen C3 car as Plan A to get the train to Scarborough was no longer an option due to flooding.
Darren had excelled in finding an awesome Airbnb on North Marine Road, with a lovely outlook onto the north bay, and just a hop, step and a jump to mum and dad’s.
We got out and about a bit, checking out some of the old haunts around Scarborough, including Princess Cafe (who’d have thought my career would have both started and ended up (at least so far) at ’Princess’!).
We worked our way through a barrage of British gastronomic delights, from curries to Sunday roasts, fry ups to Wagamamas.
With a little time to spare at the weekend, we ventured to York to meet up with Wayne & Judith.
Woke up to snow!!! Very Christmassy 🙂
But what we really came home to Scarborough for, was to spend some quality time with mum and dad.
